Oil u-turns on Nymex

17/07/2009

Crude oil prices have performed a volte-face on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) during electronic trading this morning (July 17th), wiping out gains seen yesterday.

At 05:43 Eastern Time, the August delivery crude contract was trading at $61.63 (£37.78) a barrel, down 39 cents on yesterday's settle price.

By the close of trading yesterday, the commodity was up 48 cents, buoyed by equities markets responding to stronger-than-expected earnings reports from the likes of IBM and JPMorgan.

However, today's losses mark a return to concerns about demand for crude and products such as DERV, gasoline and heating oil.

Wholesale Nymex heating oil have tracked crude prices downward in trading this morning.

Speaking to Reuters, Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst at Purvin & Gertz, commented: "Sentiments on oil are split between those who believe a recovery is on its way and therefore prices should climb higher and those who are looking at the supply-demand fundamentals."